Ken Kalfus - Equilateral

A clever, witty and complex story of obsession and ambition

It is the turn of the twentieth century and esteemed astronomer Sanford Thayer is excavating an immense equilateral triangle in the middle of the Egyptian desert in order to communicate with Mars. Thousands of men have been drafted from local villages to carry out the ambitious plan, but as political and religious dissent rips through the camps and a love triangle engulfs Thayer, the project looks set to destroy itself.

Equilateral may sound like a well-worn tale of men reaching out to the skies, but Ken Kalfus has crafted a novel that instead of centring on extra terrestrial beings, focuses on the very human need for communication and our desire to be understood, whatever the cost. The frightening obsession that drives Thayer also drives the narrative forward, and the novel is a tense page-turner right from the start. Equilateral is a clever, witty and complex novel.